Blog archive 2008

Here at Make Hay we’ll be taking a short break to celebrate the festive season.
Our office will be closed from 5pm tonight (Friday 19th December) until Monday 5th January.
Wishing you all happy holidays and we’ll be in touch again the New Year, ready for a great 2009!
xx
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Well, this year is nearly over and its flown by in a flash. I thought it would be good to finish up this year with a ‘Client News Round-up’ and tell you about some of the clients we’ve been working with this month.
Introducing….
Lovely new web design clients
C8TER
Professional caterers C8TER needed a brand new website
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New VAT Rate
As you’ve probably heard, the government has announced changes to the UK VAT rate which will be coming into force on Monday 1st December. The new rate will be 15% rather than 17.5%
Here’s how it affects you as Make Hay and Green Hosting clients
1. Any outstanding invoices sent to you before 1st December will need to be paid with the
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The social networking site LinkedIn is often considered to be the more professional, sober alternative to Facebook.
Personally I use both Facebook and LinkedIn but always preferred the extra interaction that Facebook allows.
Well, LinkedIn has caught up. So as well as offering lots of scope to share your professional credentials LinkedIn Applications
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When Jez and I set up Make Hay we had two clear aims in mind. One was to do business our own (ethical) way and the other was to try to play some part in encouraging consumers to think about where they spend their hard-earned cash. Even a small business can be influential in helping consumers choose green and ethical products and services but simply existing
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Nope, this isn’t a spelling mistake, its another cool new online tool to make bloggers’ lives easier.
This is a real goody if you’re working away from your regular computer or you don’t having image editing software and it is called Resizr.
Resizr lets you re-size images (and change a few other settings) online. You can either
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Talking to a client the other day about the joys of blogging, I realised that I’d broken one of my own number 1 rules – neglecting our blog.
Our client was interested in how a blog could enhance his online presence and as I went to show him how we use our blog to provide useful resources to our clients I felt a pang of shame…. I
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I read a really relevant and valid post today on Seth Godin’s blog which relates perfectly to business and other areas of our lives.
Everybody is in the same boat. We all have so much to do and our time is precious. Respect someone by not wasting their time…
Read what Seth has to say about time.
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I’d like to apologise to our readers for the recent silence on the Make Hay blog. The only reason for this is work, work and more work which means that we’re getting the opportunity to collaborate with more amazing, ethical businesses and individuals.
So, less about us and more about them. Here’s our latest client news round-up:
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Just a quick update following the previous post.
The new Green Girls Global and Green Guys Global sites are here!
As well as our slick new look we have new features and opportunities for guests to contribute.
Check them out at www.greengirlsglobal.com and www.greenguysglobal.com…
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As you may already know Jez and I here at Make Hay manage and coordinate the Green Girls Global and Green Guys Global blogs. On Monday we will be very happy to re-launch fresh, new and even better versions of them both.
The GGG blogs are all about editors from different parts of the world sharing their experiences, ideas and views on living a more
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Quite a lot of our Make Hay clients are bloggers so this one is especially for you.
In my view it is all the more important that green bloggers have engaged and interested visitors because the issues that you’re blogging about can make a big difference.
So here are 5 links from the blogging experts to help you along the way:
How to Create a
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One of the first questions many potential clients ask is “how to I get to number 1 in Google?”.
Well, this is a massive question. SEO is a detailed and complex subject in itself relating to technical aspects of web development, semantics and copywriting, not to mention keeping up with the changing ways that search engines track and index sites
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The latest Make Noise newsletter is out now!
Check out the August ‘08 edition ‘Grasslands, Natural Nursery and Pledging for Change‘.
If you would like to find out about all kinds of green and ethical work then why not become a Make Noise member? Joining Make Noise is completely free and all we ask you to do is help spread the word by
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One of our fantastic Make Mail clients Michael Norton, of 365 Act, has published a gargantuan list of networks in his August newsletter.
The list includes physical and virtual networking groups for technology and social entrepreneurs and creative people.
As Michael Says networking is a great way to get the creative juices flowing and “the two
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Here’s the latest from a few of our clients…
Wind Powered Websites
Now using our Green Hosting, powered by the wind:
Natural Nursery Blog
News and updates on green products, activities and baby and family stories.
www.naturalnurseryblog.co.uk
DEA Services Wimbledon
Domestic energy assessing and home energy assessing services in
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Last Friday’s post was a little heavy and since then I’ve been having a lot of interesting conversations about the way green/ethical business is perceived and how those of us who run ‘ethical’ businesses should communicate what we do. I put the word ‘ethical’ in inverted commas because a big part of the discussions have
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An issue which has come onto my radar today (articles I’ve read and conversations I’ve had) is people’s perception of green business. Whether this is positive or negative, I’ve been wondering on the whole what do you think?
In our experience of running Make Hay we’ve worked hard to demonstrate that we are genuine in our goal to
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Whether its on Green Girls Global or in the Make Hay newsletters I’m always talking about ways that we can be greener at work.
The reason I go on about it so much is because its really easy yet the benefits can potentially go a long way.
I was glad to see The Big Green Switch run a feature this week on ‘Going Green in the Workplace‘. They
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Yesterday I received a message via Facebook from our friend and Greenfinder founder Kate saying:
“Interested in networking with other green/ethical/community or social enterprise groups in the Midlands?”
Are we ever?!
Kate has set up a Facebook group for like minded people in the Midlands to connect online and possibly meet up in the region for
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The latest Make Noise newsletter is out now!
Check out the July ’08 edition ‘Campaigns, directories, research & donations‘.
If you would like to find out about all kinds of green and ethical work then why not become a Make Noise member? Joining Make Noise is completely free and all we ask you to do is help spread the word by
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Here’s the latest from a few of our Make Hay clients…
Eco Directory & Radio Station Aim to Reduce Landfill
Long term Green Hosting client and Make Hay friend Allthingseco has teamed up with the UK’s only green radio station Passion for the Planet, to help people all over the UK reduce, re-use and recycle and keep their waste out of
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Two marketing marvels that caught my eye recently are are the fantastic Shama Hyder’s ‘After the Launch’ blog and Peter Shankman’s ‘If I can help a reporter out’
Shama’s blog provides regular insights and ideas into creative marketing and networking. She shares her views on the best social networking sites and
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Well, actually knowing about the electricals you use for your business is much more than etiquette, it’s about working ethically and being responsible towards the environment.
We all need to use computers for our day to day work, that’s just a fact of life. On top of that there are printers, mobile phones, laptops and the list goes on. So, how
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This month we have been extremely happy to to be involved in the Canvass Your MP campaign.
This campaign was masterminded by a group of green bloggers who decided that something needs to be done about climate change and fast.
In lightening speed the bloggers met, created the campaign concept and gave it a name. Then what they needed was a web team to design
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Make Hay has become a Green Achiever!
If you’re not already aware of Green Achiever it is a scheme which supports businesses to communicate to potential suppliers, clients and other interested parties the positive things they’re doing for the environment.
Becoming a Green Achiever involves completing an environmental health check which results
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Emerging from the book ‘Your Ethical Business‘ is this online Ethical Business Network. It is a growing community of entrepreneurs and business owners sharing information and support.
The network is free to join, all you have to do is register and fill in your details.
Ethical business is growing all the time so let’s collaborate to
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Check out some of these sites we’ve stumbled across, all very useful for marketing your green and ethical work as well as learning about others.
Ecopop
ecopop.com™ is a free idea exchange. It promotes brand innovations and business opportunities that merge capitalism with global responsibility.
www.ecopop.com
Ethical Affiliate
Affiliating,
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People often ask me how a web design company can be green and ethical and when I tell them they’re usually surprised at all the possibilities.
Many of our every day practices and aims to become greener can be applied to any office based business and so I decided to share how we go about it.
I have published 5 articles about how a web design company
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Recently we were in the fortunate position to see the true power of standards compliant design in action.
This story shows in real life how a standards compliant site can make all the difference to visitor traffic and search engine rankings.
Find out what happened when two websites went head to head in our full ‘Standards design works!‘
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Knowing the activity of your website visitors can go a long way to learning how to increase their numbers.
If you don’t know how they found your site or what they do when they get there how can you maximise on the things that work well and improve the parts that are lacking?
What about those who aren’t yet your visitors?
Have you ever
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Don’t underestimate the power of the blogger.
In my experience the green blogging community is friendly, supportive and looking for green news and views to share.
Successful blogs have thousands of visitors a month and an active community around them who may well be interested to learn about you.
I wouldn’t recommend that you contact all of
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Who doesn’t love a bargain or a freebie?
Nowadays there are lots of great green and ethical web directories out there who work hard to aim their sites at consumers looking for ethical products and services.
Many of them do not charge for a basic listing in their directory and those who do tend to request a fee for some added benefits (e.g enhanced
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Last year the Companies Act was updated to include publishingh company details on your website.
Whether you run a new or existing company the Act says that there is specific information which must be displayed. This information includes:
1. your company’s name
2. place of registration
3. registration number
4. the address of the registered office
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Unfortunately the rules around copyright and websites are not clear cut and if you want to know the finer details then we’d suggest you seek the advice of a legal professional. However there are some useful resources out there where you can find out the basics.
Whether you manage your own website or we do this for you you should still be aware of the
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